Orissa Review

July - 2010

Revival of Car Festival of Lord JagannathaA Special Reference to Srikrsna-BhaktaVatsalya-Caritam

Dr. Trinath Hota

creed and sex. From imperial times to these days

of democracy, the great chariots of Lord
Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are dragged
by the devotees, the common folk, the eager
pilgrims themselves. The car festival is foremost
among the twelve festivals of Lord Jagannath, the
presiding deity of Purusottama Kshetra, Puri.
It is the biggest and most important celebration in
eastern India.

Introduction
Lord Jagannath is called Patitapavana,
the redeemer of the fallen. It is to make himself
easily approachable to the common men that the
compassionate Jagannatha, Lord of the Universe
comes out of the mysterious dark chamber of the
great shrine once in a year during the car festival.
As a matter of fact, the festival may be considered
as a quintessence
of the whole cult of
Jagannath. The
people from the
nook and corner of
India and also from
abroad come to
Sriksetra, Puri to
redeem their rebirth
by seeing Vamana
(the incarnation of
Visnu ) inside the
car- rathe tu
vamanam drstva
punarjanma na
vidyate .1 He is also called Purusottama, the
highest self as propagated in the Bhagavad Gita
and different puranas. But he is not really so much
a god for the saints as for the common men,
because he has allowed himself to evolve solely
for the needy people irrespective of caste, colour,

The observance
of the car festival of
Lord Jagannath
dates back to the
age of the Puranas.
Vivid descriptions
are fo und in
Brahma Purana
(12 th century).
Padma Purana,
Skanda Purana
(13th-14th century)
Yatra-tattva (16th
century), Kapila
th
Samhita (18 century), Niladri Mahodayam (16th
chapter) etc. Shankaracharya, Guru Nanak, Sri
Chaitanya and many other notable poets have
composed a number of devotional poems
showing their devotion towards Lord Jagannath.
Shankaracharya visited Sriksetra, Puri in about
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July - 2010

8th century A.D. and established Govardhan Pitha

near the present Swargadwar. Shankara revived
the tradition of Sankrit learning and literature with
the introduction of Advaitavada. In this age of
revival just after a few years of Shankara s visit
to this place, the Orissan poets and dramatists
have composed many poems and dramas in utter
devotion of Lord Jagannath. Particularly, the
Sanskrit dramas composed by Orissan poets have
contributed a lot for the propagation of the cult of
Lord Jagannath. Here the One-Act play
Srikrsna-bhakta-vatsalya-caritam of Gajapati
Ramachandra Deva-I is discussed as it conveys
the revival of car festival of Lord Jagannath.

jaithila. Vaisnava hoi snge godaithila

athamasa rahi vadypana kari daru magila
bramha khola kari mrdange puroi gheni aila.
Kujanga gadare ani pravesa kala
Khandaitaolia uparaduithakure rahile .
From the above said source it is learnt
that Kalapahara s desecrated the Jagannath
temple. When the servants of the temple heard
Kalapahara s designs on the temple, they took
the images of the temple and hide them in an island
of the Chilika lake. But Kalapahara learnt of this
and brought the images from the island to burn
them on the bank of the Ganges. A Vaisnava
devotee Bisar Mohanti, followed Kalapahara and
managed to rescue remnants or the inner contents
of the burnt images and brought the same back
to Kujanga. There he worshipped lord Jagannath
in the form of daru.

The car festival could not be observed

due to the absence of the wooden deities of Lord
Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra in the
temple since the sacrilege committed by the
Muslim General Kalapahar in 1568 A.D. after
the death of Gajapati Mukunda Deva. Regarding
this matter the temple chronicle Madalapanji2
declares-

The view of Madalapanji is also

supported by Abul-Fazal i.e, Kalapahara, the
general of Suleman Karani on his conquest of the
country, flung the image into fire and burnt it and
afterwards cast it into the sea.3

sedinu kataka raja kehi rahi na parile.

Mugala pidha kari madirahile. Dibyasingha
pattnaik thakuranku ghenigale. E golare
paramesvaranku chhapalihathi padare patali
karithile. Tahinki Volikalapahada jai thaba
kala, muhana pari hoi gala. Setharu
paramesvaranku hathire pakai anila.Vanakoti
bhandara sethare jura kala. Vadadeula ainela
sarijae bhangaila. Jete devatamana pitula
mana sabunku hi khuna kala. Kalapavata
kholai pakail. Ghodanandi puroi nian lagaila.
Sri Jagannath mahaprabhunku gangakula
tanda jae nela. Katha kudhai agnire puroi
jalidela. Tene pathana deha khanda khanda
hoi phatila. Eha suni taharapua
paramesvaranku gangare meli dela. Se daru
bhasi asante amura gotie jail katha bolidhari
taha varire pakaila srijagannatha
mahaprabhunku nevavele Bisara Mohanty

The activity of Kalapahara gave a

tremendous shock to the entire Hindu society and
was deemed as a great victory of Islam by its
followers. After its desecration, Puri the strong
hold of Jagannath was made into the Home of
Islam and it became the seat of Muslim
Governo r. 4 In the meantime Gajapati
Ramachandra Deva-I 5 (Son of Janardana
Vidyadhara, the Prime Minister and General of
Govinda Vidyadhara- 1533-41 A.D.) established
the Khurda fort in about 1571-72 A.D. three years
after the death of Mukunda Deva in 1568 A.D.
A brief account about the accession of
Ramachandra Deva-I is given in the
Madalapanji6 i.e.
"Jaduvamsa rajee ene udita hoile danei
vidyadharanka pua totami gadare thile.
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Ramacandra deva raja hoile vada pratapiraja

hoile. Khurudha na adare Jagannathpure
kataka kari rahile varunai parvata tale .

Subhadra in the temple without waisting a single

moment. Out of many reference the statement
given in Maladalapanji9 is cited here.

According to the local chronicle Chakada 7

"a 9 nke rajakujanga gadaru brahma anile.

Khurudha kataka vanayaga kri sumurati
karaile a 11 nka kakada di 18 na sravana
sukla navami dina purusottama vadadeule
ratnasimhasane vije karaile Brahma anila
bisara mahantinki poranaik kale.

"Tanhi uttaru daksina diga khandaite

ramachandra rautara mahapatranku raja
kale .kataka purusottama madhyastha
kholapala suddhasauri vala vikrama simhara
kharadha voli palli gotie thila raja
Vikramsimhaku magi taha nama
Jagannathpura kataka voli subha dele. Se
valavikrama simhara mundadati vada
avakasa bhadratale potile.

It means the king Ramachandra brought

the Brahma, the most sacred portion of the
Jagannatha image from Kujanga (a place in the
Mahanadi delta) in his 9th anka and got the images
of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra
constructed and consecrated in Khurda kataka
after performance of necessary sacrifices. The
images were installed on the Ratnasimhasana
of the Jagannatha Temple on the 18th day of
Karkata which was Sravana Sukla Navami in
his 11th anka

The establishment of the fort of Khurda

by Ramachandra Deva is also depicted in two
inscriptions8 found at Srijanga. The relevant
portion is thus cited here;
(a)
Caluki
Mukundadeva
ante
javanabhoga varasa 26 ekavara-patisa hei
rajaputa manasimgha raja kateka
pachhameparanga khuruda thita kateka sudra
gajapati raja ramachandra drva 34 anka
srahi.

According to the astronomical calculation

such a combination occurred on Sunday, the 17th
July, 1575 A.D. which was the 18th day of
Karkata, the tithi was sravana sukla dasami
instead of navami.

(b)
Caluki mukunda deva ante
javanabhoga varasa 26 ekavara-patisa hei
rajaput manasimgha raja amala odisa raja
Kariva kateka pacchime paranga khuruda,
thita kateka sudraraja gajapti ramachandra
deva 37 anka.

This atmosphere created immense

pleasure in the mind of king Ramachandra DevaI. As a able statesman he took full advantage of
the situation and revived the worship of lord
Jagannath to give pleasure and inspiration to the
Hindus all over India. Further Madalapanji10
informs-

The above discussions make it clear that

after establishing the fort in Khurda, the king
Ramachandra Deva-I named the place as
Jagannath Pura Kataka after the name of Lord
Jagannath. Destruction of the shrine and nonexistence of the deities tormented the heart of the
king. He first turned his attention towards
Jagannath temple. His first and foremost duty was
to build the Ratna Simhasana and to reinstall
the images of Lord Jagnnath, Balabhadra and

Paramesvara ma 4 sa jae nisankhudi

manohi karu thile. Bhayare raja sankhudi na
karaile. Brahmana santa Bhatta
misramananku svadesi panditamananku
gheni vichari pacari paramesvaranka gahane
upasthita hoila. Se sevakamananku gheni
sankhudi bhoga manohi karaile. Sakala dhupa
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manohi vadhila uttare khecedi mahaprasada

kakhare kari sri Ramachandradeva maharaja
Jaya vijaya dvara kalapahaca upare ubha hoi
samasta bhatta misramane patoara karuthile.
Samastanku cannile. Ramachandra bhatta,
govardhanna praharaje, misra gosain tiniloke
rajanka hataru ucchudi mahaprasada seva
kari mundare hata volile. Hari savada kari
samasta sannyasi brahmacari bhatta
misramane mahaprasada paile. Samasta
sannyasi brahmacarimane sriramacandradeva
maharajanku duti indradumana voli sadhi
deli.

it is also known that the king was entitled as

Abhinava Indradyumna. This one act play
corroborates the statements given in the temple
chronicle Madalapanji. The stage manager11
declares thus:
Kamala nivisesa caranakamalasya Kamalamukha Kamalatula-madhvika lubdha
madhubratasya nilasaila siromaneh
bhagavatah sripurusottamasya kenapi
karanena anavasara rasaprayuktahrdayasya
sampratam abhinava-indradyumna gajapatau
Srirama ramyacaranakamala rolamba ramachandra deva koti janmarjita sukrtaprabhavati krpavasiatah prakatita darumaya
madhuramutth pundarikaksasya gundicamahotsavoyam tadanantara samstham
bhaga-vantm alokya janma saphalayami.

From the above temple chronicle it is clear

that the Gajapati king Ramachandra Deva-I
revived the sancitity of the Mahaprasad. The
leading persons like Bhatta Misra, religious
mendicants and disciples gladly accepted the
Mahaprasad from the hands of the king near the
Jaya Vijaya gate of the Jagannath Temple. For
this noble and praiseworthy work the religious
persons honoured Gajapati Ramachandra
Deva-I with the title of Second Indradyumna.

In another place Sutradhara also

expresses- Marisa pasyasi paramasya
punsah prakata daru Kalevarasya surasura
maulimandana nilamanesh srijagannathasya
rathayatra mahetsavam .
From the version of the Sutradhara it is
known that the spectators were eagerly waiting
to see the navakalevara of lord Jagannath on
the occasio n of car festival. The poet
Ramachandra Deva-I has dramatized the episode
narrated in chapter 263, Aranyaka-parvan of
the Mahabharata in a befitting manner. But
unfortunately the critical edition has dropped this
portion. This episode is also narrated in the Sarala
Mahabharata12 (Vanaparva-Durvasacarita).
But the donation of the particular vessel by the
Sun God to Draupadi is not described in the
Sarala Mahabharata. The dramatist might have
referred the Odia Mahabharata but the main
source of this One-Act play is Sanskrit
Mahabharata. The subject matter runs thus:

Gajapati Ramachandra Deva-I also got

a scope to expose his literary talent by composing
an One-Act play named Srikrsna-bhaktavatsalya - caritam for the entertainment of
devotees assembled on the occasion of the car
festival of Lord Jagannath. The Madalapanji
informs that the worship of Lord Jagannath and
the re-establishment of the Mahaprasad could
be possible by Ramachandra Deva-I. But the
drama Srikrsna-bhakta-Vatsalya-Caritam
makes it clear that Ramachandra Deva-I also
revived the car festival of Lord Jagannatha. This
drama was staged at the time of the car festival of
Jagannath as a mark of great rejoicing because
this festival could not be performed for some years
due to non-existence of the deities in the temple
since 1568. From the version of the stage manager

A particular vessel donated by the Sungod is with Draupadi. This particular vessel
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July - 2010

vogue then. Historians tell us that Yayati (922955 A.D.), who built a temple for Jagannath
introduced the worship of the Trinity with
Sudarshana. It is quite probable that the three
rathas were introduced at that time.

provides food of all shorts as long as Draupadi

has not taken her meal. Therefore, the Pandavas
are used to provide food to the innumerable guests
who come to them. To put Pandavas into trouble
Duryodhana sends the sage Durvasa to beg for
food in an unusal time. Durvasa reached along
with millions of disciples and demands food. In
the mean time Draupadi tells Yudhisthira that the
metal vessel is not in a position to provide food
as she has already taken her meal. By this time it
is evening. Along with disciples Durvasa goes for
evening prayer. To get rid of the curse of Durvasa
the devotees (Pandavas) with folded hands
address lord Krsna:

(ii)
The subject matter centres on a vessel
donated by the Sun god to Draupadi which
provides food to the innumerable guests who come
to the Pandavas as long as Draupadi has not taken
her meal. But when Durvasa reached along with
millions followers for food, at that moment it was
beyond the capacity of the vessel to provide food.
But lord Krsna listened the prayer of his devotees
and took a bit of vegetable left in the vessel which
satisfied Durvasa along with his disciples. This
event co-relates the sacred Mahaprasad of Lord
Jagannath revived by Ramachandra Deva-I.
Mahaprasad is the main offering of rice in the
Jagannath temple. Only Mahaprasad can be
taken altogether by people, whatever their religion
or race may be even on the same banana leaf.
Mahaprasad14 originated in the remote past when
Lord Jagannath was worshipped in his original
form of Nilamadhava. That is known as kaivalya
or naivedya. So it is told in Sabdakalpadruma :

"Samsara sindhu tarani caranam pranamami te.

Trilokitilakah krsnah karuna varunalayah

In the meantime Draupadi meditates upon

Srikrsna who at once arrives there. Srikrsna asks
Draupadi whether anything is left in the vessel ?
Draupadi replies that a bit of vegetable is left over
in the vessel. When Srikrsna takes it and
expressed his great contentment Durvasa along
with his disciples cry out in pleasure that they are
satisfied to their hearts content. They no more
desire to take any food. At last Yudhisthira prays:

padodakam nirmalyam naivedyam ca

visesatah, mahaprasada ityuktva grahyam
visnoh prayatnatah.

Karnau krtarthau vacanena caksusi,

Sudhabhisikte
lalitangasobhaya.
Manah prasannam smaranena tedhuna
Bhayam villinam rucirena karmana. (Verse
No.51.)

(iii)
The title of this One-Act play Srikrsnabhakta-vatsalya-caritam justifies that the great
love and affection of Srikrsna i.e. Lord Jagannath
is solely meant for his devotees.

From the subject matter it is clear that:

(i)
This One-Act play conveys not only the
revival of tradition of car festival of lord Jagannath
in about 1575-76 A.D. but also it depicts the
indescribable devotion of Oriya people towards
Lord Visnu. Historically speaking, the wooden
image of Jagannath was reinstalled by Adi
Sankaracharya possibly by 8th century A.D.13,
which presupposes that worship had been in

Conclusion
Srikrsna-bhakta-vatsalya-caritam may
be a small work based on the epic the
Mahabharata. But from the historical point of
view it is very important for the scholars to present
the historicity of car festival of lord Jagannath
although other sources are there. This is a great
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July - 2010

contribution of Orissan Sanskrit literature,

because it still conveys the memory of the
Hinduism i.e. the car festival of lord Jagannath in
Orissa after the first terrible muslim onslaught in
1568 A.D. The version of Sutradhara makes it
clear that the revival of the worship of Lord
Jagannath in the great temple at Puri by king
Ramachandra Deva-I enhanced his prestige and
popularity among the people of Orissa in
particular and Hindus of India in general and he
was hailed as a great national hero of this
memorable achievement. The One-Act play
Srikrsna-bhakta-vatsalya-caritam of Gajapati
Ramachandra Deva-I, a powerful Hindu king is
not only remembered for its literary value, but also
for its historical information i.e. revival of car
festival of Lord Jagannath.

(iv). Ibid, Vol-I Smrti Manuscripts, 1958 pp. Lxxviiviii.

(v). Panda, Harihar, History of Orissa,1997, p.167
(vi).Pradhan, A.C., A Study of History of Orissa,
1985, pp. 125-26.

References :
1.

Skanda Purana, Utkala Khanda.

2.

Mohanty, Artaballabha, Madalapanji (Prachi

Samiti, 1932), Orissa Sahitya Academy,
Bhubaneswar, 2001, pp.40-41.

3.

Ain-i-Akbari, vol-II, p.128.

4.

Muntakhabu-t-Tawarish, Vol.II, pp.166-177

5.

6.

Mohanty, Artaballabha, Madalapanji, p.41

7.

Mahapatra, K.N., Gajapati Ramachandra

Deva-I, OHRJ, Vol-VI, No.4, 1958, p.232.

8.

Ibid, p.233.

9.

Mohanty, Artaballabha, Madalapanji, Orissa

Sahitya Academi, 2002. p.41.

10.

Ibid, pp. 41-42.

11.

Introductory Verses to the Srikrsna-bhaktavatsalya-caritam.

12.

Sarala Mahabharata, Vanaparvan, part-2,

Durvasa Carita, pp.351-360. Department of
Culture. Govt. of Orissa, 1970.

13.

Vijaya Makaranda, 31, 13, Sri Jagannath. (ed)

Pramod Ranjan Ray, op.cit.p.5.

14.

Khuntia, Somanath, The Mystery of

Mahaprasada, Orissa Review, July, 2002, p.43.

(i). Mahapatra, K.N., Gajapati Ramachandra

Deva-1, The Orissa Historical Research
Journal, Vol-VI, No.4, 1958, pp.227-250.
Dr. Trinath Hota is a lecturer in Sanskrit, Acharya
Harihar Mahavidyalaya, Bhubaneswar, Orissa. He lives
at IVR -84, Unit-6, Bhubaneswar-1

(ii). Mahapatra K.N., A Descriptive Catalogue of

Sanskrit Manuscripts of Orissa, Vol-II, 1960,
pp. Lxxiv-v.

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